Obviously we all love his corporate persona, but it sounds like Iwata was also a legitimately good human being, one who would sooner cut his own pay than lay off grunts in warehouse.
And it's evident from his interviews in Iwata Asks that his appreciation of game design was genuine, which is not surprising since Iwata himself worked as a programmer on some all-time classics, including my favorite NES game, Balloon Fight.
It's admirable to see someone work on the craft and rise through the ranks like he did. I remember an interview where he said he pursued making games against the wishes of his parents because he enjoyed putting smiles on people's faces with games he would program on his graphing calculator.
The guy just wanted to make people happy, and I think that's a sign of a kindhearted soul.
May he rest in peace. I wish he could've lived to see the success of his last project, the Switch, but I like to think he's out there somewhere, laughing. :-)
